If you have been following me on Instagram this summer, then you already know we decided to completely overhaul and expand our existing farrowing barn. We knocked down the right wall, doubled the sized, busted out and re-poured a new concrete slab, hard wired electric, put on a metal roof, and completely redid the fencing and configuration of the paddock. It was a bit of a project, but it is officially complete and it feels great to have such an awesome set up in place.
If you follow closely, yes this farrowing barn is now our third revision. Our first set up we used when we had zero experience whatsoever. Some things worked, most things didn’t. Enter our second set up, based on things learned from the first. We tossed out the dog kennel creep and went with the “pitched roof” style, and increased the size. It worked well for us, but there were some functionality aspects that could be improved. Plus, it was only big enough to accommodate one sow. Because we have retained several gilts for breeding to increase our operation size, we needed something bigger. Hence the doubled in size farrowing barn.
Below is a video tour where I walk you through the setup. At least as much as I could in the 15 minutes allotted to me by Youtube. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read the previous posts that I wrote on each version. We didn’t start out with this set up, it took a few years of trial and error, and failure. While it may not be perfect, based on our previous experience we think it’s quite fitting for our needs.
We are extremely excited about this new farrowing barn set up and all of the piglets that will be born here in the coming years!
Happy Farrowing,
We have finally done it. After years of raising Ranger meat chickens we have FINALLY designed and built the ultimate mobile chicken coop to fit our needs. No more hoop houses or chicken wire lined wooden frames that need perfectly level ground and constant repair. No more brooder boxes and transitioning to a coop. And best of all, NO MORE TARPS! It has taken us several years and a lot of headaches and grief, but by Joe we have finally done it. Last year we started it, this year we finished it. Our mobile chicken coop dubbed “Big Daddy’s Meat Wagon 2.0” is officially completed with its first flock inhabiting it.
The ultimate goal for this chicken coop was very simple and basic: Something mobile that would allow us to easily rotate it around our rocky and sloped pasture. I never want to have to shovel chicken poop again, and it had to be set up for use from day old chick brooder until butchering day. It also had to be largely made of existing material we had lying around from other projects, but couldn’t be a hideous eyesore. Seems simple enough…
The Basic Design
Dimensions and Floor
The design is extremely basic as it’s built on the frame of a 6 foot trailer that we already had and rarely used. Nick welded a two foot extension, giving us 8 feet total of coop length. With its ~4 foot width, it gives us an area of 32 squarish feet total with two (easily) removable roosts running the length of the coop. We are at the point where we no longer need to raise a million chickens a year thanks to the abundance of pork and lamb we raise. So for our 30+ birds we are shooting to keep for butcher, this is a fine size considering that the coop is merely serving as a brooder and a place to roost at night. From sun up to sun down they will be outside foraging on our pasture.
We have an abundance of hardware cloth leftover from other projects, so the “floor” of the mobile chicken coop Is 1″ hardware cloth. Not only is it strong and able to withstand the weight of 30 full sized grown birds, but it is more adept to keep a predator out than something like chicken wire.
The first two weeks of life the chicks are small and there are concerns about them hurting a leg or foot walking on the wire floor. They could potentially drop a foot through and get stuck, break a leg, etc. But remember, one of my requirements was that this be all inclusive, so it has to easily be adapted to be used as a brooder. To protect the chick’s feet (as well as help retain heat) we popped out the roosts and lined half the coop floor with pieces of cardboard with a cardboard dividing “wall”. Shavings go on top, hang a heat lamp from the roof frame, and voila, we have a brooder! Once the chicks are feathered out and bigger around the 2 week mark, the roosts will be put back in, and the cardboard can be taken out and composted. This 1″ square floor will support their feet, but most importantly when they go to roost at night their manure will directly fall through and onto our pasture fertilizing it. Added bonus: no more shoveling chicken poop for me!
We keep the food and waterers in the coop for the next couple of weeks to help train the chicks to go back to roost at night. They learn this is where they sleep, eat, and drink. Once they’ve gotten bigger and need more space in the coop, we switch to our large waterers and feeder that will go outside. At this point the coop is strictly for sleeping.
The Roof
The roof is a simple A-frame style roof made from leftover galvanized metal roofing. But, we knew we would have to reach in to change water, feed, and adjust the heat lamps when the chicks were young. Then we’d have to reach in to grab full grown birds on butchering day. Knowing this, we made one panel of roofing on each end and the opposite side hinged to allow us easy access inside the coop. So, the front and back of the coop each have a hinged panel on opposite sides.
With this hatch set up, a standard metal roof cap wouldn’t work because it doesn’t allow any flexibility at the hinge. So, to overcome this we used some scraps of rubber roofing. It gives protection so the rain doesn’t come pouring through, but allows that much needed flexibility in the two hinge points in the roof. PS this was my idea. Nick wanted to cut some tarp and call it good, I said no tarps, this is the year we are tarp-less! And then I got some rubber roof scraps from my father in law. Problem solved 
The Ramp and Door
I wanted this coop to be as functional and as easy to move as possible. I didn’t want to have to carry a million things with each rotation, and I didn’t want a thousand different hooks, chains, etc hanging off it either. Simple was the goal and remember, a requirement was it needs to look good!
The door is a very standard hinged door. It flips up and is held open by a hook on the door, that loops through a chain that is secured above near the roof’s peak. It has a simple sliding bolt to lock the birds in at night as well.
The ramp is connected to the coop in a secure but easily removable way. Long bolts are screwed on both sides at the top of the ramp, and they each go through the opening in a short length of metal chain that’s fastened to the frame. It’s strong, will support the weight of the birds, and will not go anywhere. Last year when we would go to move the coop we had to remove the ramp and carry it. It easily pops out no problem, but it was just another thing to carry. So this year, I put an eye bolt at the bottom of the ramp. On the same chain that the door hooks onto to stay open, there is a carabiner clip that hooks to the eyebolt on the ramp. Holding the ramp up at an incline gets it off the ground for transport, while simultaneously putting tension on the hinge point to keep it in place.
Finishing Touches
What would a project be without the finishing touches? I think that for the first time ever we actually put the finishing touches on a project. Basically, everything else we have done we get it to 98% and then it comes down to the little details that really pull it all together aesthetically, and we’re like ehhhhh we will do it another time. Then we don’t.
Any opening was covered with hardware cloth or chicken wire for ventilation. While chicken wire isn’t “predator proof” like hardware cloth, nothing is guaranteed. If an animal is that determined, they will find a weak spot. Thankfully we aren’t really concerned with predators because we have three levels of protection: our LGD Annie that patrols the permanent fenced pasture at night, the electric netting that surrounds the coop, and then the coop itself that houses the birds. Despite this, we try to make it as impenetrable as possible.
For aesthetic purposes (remember, not being a hideous eyesore was a requirement!) we used rough cut wood to cover part of the roof’s peak so it wasn’t completely open. We wanted to allow enough open for ventilation, but not so wide open that it would allow rain in. Finally, the cherry on top was paint. Using leftover SW Rookwood Red from painting the house doors, I painted the body of the coop, and used Rustoleum white spray paint on the metal frame and edges that happens to look like trim. It looks like a little mini barn on wheels rolling around the pasture.
The only thing we didn’t get to that we plan to incorporate into the design next year is a watering system. For now, we use a couple of 7-gallon waterers from our local co op that sit out on the ground. Next year, we plan to weld a bracket to the neck extension of the coop to mount a water tank attached to some kind of watering system. We didn’t get to it this year, so we have a year to figure it out.
Moving Day
The meat chickens will follow our sheep being rotated around our pasture with Premier One Electric Netting. They will spread out the sheep and donkey manure, eat grubs, bugs, and grass, and fertilize our soil with their own nitrogen rich manure.
This mobile chicken coop has made our moving process incredibly easy, just like our mobile livestock shelters have for our other animals. In the morning while the birds are still locked in the coop from the night before, we take down the electric netting and toss it over the top of the coop. We back up the tractor to the hitch and hook it up. Waterers, feeders, and the wooden stand we use to prop the wagon up when it’s parked is thrown in the bucket of the tractor. Then, away she goes! Once it’s moved to the next location we unhook the wagon and prop it back up with the stand, put feeders and waterers in place, put the netting back up, chock the tire, and then open the door to let the birds out.
This is an incredibly simple process that start to finish takes less than a half hour. No chasing or herding birds, no repairing ripped tarp roofs. Just simple, easy, stress free rotational grazing which makes for happy birds and happy homesteaders.
Finishing this project has been a huge weight off of our shoulders. We have created for ourselves the tools that allow us to be more efficient, which in turn will allow our animals to be more productive. Not only in aerating and fertilizing our soils to improve our pasture, but by providing them a fresh natural diet that allows them to express their natural behaviors while creating the best nutrient dense chicken possible.
It may have taken us a while to get to this point, but without trying all of those other aforementioned housing options, we wouldn’t have been able to really hone in on what worked and what didn’t for us. Or, truly appreciate what we have now in this mobile chicken coop. So as it always seems to go, the headaches, late night repairs, and moments of regret were worth it.
Happy Building,
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It’s no secret that we put all of our animals to work clearing our land. The pigs turn over the soil in the woods as we clear trees to create pasture, the goats clear brush and maintain our stone walls, the sheep graze our pasture and the meat chickens follow them fertilizing and aerating the soil. Between the animals themselves, the electric netting, and the mobile livestock shelters, there are a lot of moving pieces…literally.
In the summer we are moving animals daily. Depending on where they are and what we are trying to accomplish we could be only moving the sheep, or maybe the sheep, goats, and chickens. Just like with anything else we do here, we have evolved our methods based on experience. All of our mobile livestock shelters used to be hoop houses made out of cattle panels and tarps. Not only were these eyesores, but they were hard to move and didn’t hold up well to the animals. We were repairing them a couple of times a season. When you’re doing something daily, you want it to be as efficient of a process as possible.
We have since evolved to making all of our mobile livestock shelters for pigs, sheep, and goats with metal roofing on a simple wooden frame. Because these are for warm weather use, they merely need to provide shade and protection from the rain. They do not need to be enclosed, or even three sided which allows them to be lighter and easier to move. We make the frame out of whatever scrap lumber we happen to have (ideally pressure treated for the boards that make contact with the ground) and size it according to the animal it’s intended for. Some are larger to accommodate more or bigger animals, while some also have a steeper or shallower pitched roof for more space. It all depends on the animal that it’s intended for. Metal galvanized roofing is secured down onto stringers and voila, we have a shelter.
Our land is rocky, sloped, and a bit “cut up” in terms of where we graze/rotate our animals. The sheep will be rotated through our pasture where it’s simple enough to drag the shelter over when the fence is moved. Because it’s so light, we have never felt the need for tires. But, we will also move the sheep to say, the front yard, or up behind the house on the logging trail. This is a far distance to carry it, and the boulder blockades would make it impossible to drag even with tires.
This is where the tractor comes in handy and makes short work of it. We used to lift the shelters with the forks of the tractor and move them. This “worked” but required someone to be on the ground to help man handle and balance the shelter. It also inadvertently led to some accidents with the forks colliding with something it shouldn’t, resulting in some repairs. This year we decided there was a better way, so dusted off our geometry skills. With a little math, a rope, and some U bolts, the shelter (no matter how big or small) can be easily lifted and perfectly balance en route by only one person.
To find the “sweet spot” aka the spot to mount the u bolts where the angled shelter will self balance is simple. Looking at the shelter from the side, you go from the bottom front corner (bottom front left in photo below) and go up at a 45° angle to where it bisects the rafter. Where the angle meets the rafter is where you place your U-bolt, and repeat on the other side. We have used this same math for the smaller sheep shelter seen below, as well as the very large Big Marie sized shelter and it was spot on both times.
We have a strong length of nylon rope that already has a loop in one end. The free end of the rope goes through the loop and the u-bolt. It then goes up and over the roof, looping around both forks in opposite directions to prevent sliding, and then secured to the other U-bolt with a knot. Lift, and up and away she goes.
Super simple.
This mobile livestock shelter design have served us well for going on two years now. We love the style and simple design so much, that we have made two additional ones this year for our pigs. They serve their purpose: provide shade and protection from the elements. They’re light enough to drag from one rotation to the next, but strong enough to withstand the constant rubbing of the animals. When we do need to move them over long distances, some simple mathematics allows the shelter to be moved easily while maintaining perfect balance by one person.
If we wanted to adapt these for winter use, we could easily enclose the two sides or even half of the front. But, because we use more permanent infrastructure in the wintertime, at the end of the season we set these up on cinder blocks to get them off the ground until the next year. The beauty of these, is not only are they not eyesores sitting in the pasture, but they are quite inexpensive when you factor in the longevity you get out of them. Even better, they’re highly customizable and flexible depending on the animals you’re sheltering and your terrain.
Happy Building,
We have since applied the elements of this farrowing house to an improved and expanded farrowing barn! This will allow us to accommodate more sows, and has several significant improvements!
One of the more amazing things about essentially starting a homestead from scratch is you can see the progression as you learn and fine tune. Everything we have built more than one of, you can tell which was first and see the improvements through trial and error. You can see how each stall in our goat mini barn improved as we built them, the quality in our fencing job, and our most recent farrowing house design is no different.
I could delete the original blog post I posted prior to our first farrowing and pretend like I had it right from the beginning. But, that’s not how I roll. I learned how I wanted to change the set up because of failures, things that didn’t work, and things that did. So, if you didn’t read my first building a farrowing house blog post, go back and read it. I am going to make direct comparisons on what worked, what didn’t, and what we changed. So, let’s hop to it!
The Layout
So, if you remember previously we essentially took 1/2 of our chicken coop and built a dividing wall with a door for access. A 6×8 portion was given to Big Marie, and the remaining area was given to the ducks. We thought that this 6×8 section would be plenty big enough for her to be comfortable and raise her babies in. Honestly, it worked pretty well. What we didn’t think or know about until we saw how she was as a mom, was how devoted she is! Feeding her outside was no longer an option, as we struggled to get her to eat the first few days after farrowing much less leave her babies. So, she just didn’t have enough space to comfortably eat, or move around easily when you factored in how much time she was spending in there. It became cramped, and we ran the risk of piglets accidentally getting stepped on no matter how careful she was.
With the new farrowing house design, we busted down that wall and removed the door, and opened up the entire area for her. So now, she has roughly 12×8 feet of space to move around. Because of her size, I feel that this is big enough for her to be comfortable, but small enough to be in that “sweet spot”. No matter where she lays she is close enough for her piglets to find her. Thinking forward, this space is definitely large enough to accommodate two smaller gilts, such as Red Jamie and Claire
One thing we also added was bumpers all the way around. We made them the same height and distance from the wall as before, but they surround all interior walls. Previously we only had one bumper on the wall we constructed to divide off her section. It worked well and served its purpose. But last farrowing, at some point in labor she switched sides and wedged her butt in between two studs on a wall (left above). She had four piglets here, which piled up and got trapped with nowhere to go. They died.
With bumpers around all walls, she can’t wedge her butt in between studs anymore, and is always at minimum 8 inches from the wall. So, the piglets will at least have a fighting chance to not be crammed and be able to find their way to mom.
She has the same door configuration that allows her access to the same paddock as before. I will rehang an old rug once she farrows for draft control as we found this made a significant difference in reducing drafts while still allowing her free access to go outside.
Piglet Creep Space
The last thing that we drastically changed was the creep space for the piglets. This is their “safe space” to stay warm away from mama so they don’t accidentally get crushed.
Originally, we tried a dog kennel as mentioned in the previous post. It barely made it out alive through Big Marie’s aggressive nesting, and then only held up for a couple of days after. If it had held up, piglets would have rapidly outgrown it and another space would have had to be created anyway. So, we scratched that idea pretty quickly and had to improvise. We assembled a corner creep area with some boards, but given the total size of the area we didn’t have much room to work with. After a couple of weeks, the piglets quickly outgrew that space as well.
With this farrowing house design, we went all out. Now that we know how much space even a litter of seven piglets can take up once they’ve grown a bit, we over sized it. We took a six foot long corner that was the furthest point away from Big Maries door to reduce drafts. Using wood we took down from the wall, we blocked off the corner to create roughly a 3 x 4 x 6 triangle. After seeing how Big Marie behaves when she is nesting or has piglets, we didn’t want her to be able to see into it if at all possible. So, the boards had to be high enough over her head, and built strong enough should she try and get a snout under it checking on her piglets.
It fits our 24 x 36 stanfield mat with plenty of room to spare and for piglets to grow. Instead of just vertically stacking the boards like I see so many do, we actually had the boards go back towards the wall to create a pitched roof. This will help retain heat and keep it in the creep space, with enough of a gap behind the peak to drop in additional heat lamps.
So, to quickly recap what did we change based on our experience with two farrowings in the original space?
- Doubled the total size of the area from 6 x8 to 12 x8
- Applied our same bumper design to all interior walls
- Scrapped the dog kennel for a creep area, and utilized a corner to create an oversized space with a pitched roof to help retain heat
With the new farrowing house design, we are improving upon our failures from the previous version in an effort to avoid the same issues in previous farrowings. This doesn’t mean that this version is perfect, or we can guarantee that accidents or deaths won’t still happen. But as long as we are providing our sows the housing and tools to set them up for success, then we have done our part.
Last year was our first year sugaring , and while there was certainly a learning curve, I would call it a success. Thanks to our Vermont Evaporator Company Sapling unit, we were able to boil more efficiently than we would with homemade alternatives. Being it was our first year boiling, we stumbled and fumbled a bit. BUT we made maple syrup, and that’s what matters right?
Going into this sugaring season, I felt more prepared after learning from my mistakes. I had a better handle on when and how to tap , as well as how to properly filter and store my syrup. What we really needed to improve on was the actual boiling of the sap itself. Despite all of the benefits of the Sapling unit, I knew we weren’t maximizing its potential. We weren’t boiling as much sap as we should in a day, and as a result had to log more hours at the evaporator than we should to get the same amount of syrup. At the end of a 13-14 hour boiling day, we were never able to empty our 55 gallon storage drum.
I felt like we were always trying to regain our boil when adding fresh sap to the pan. While it may not seem like much, this boiling yo-yo is a time and efficiency killer when it happens over the course of an entire 13 hour+ boiling day. We were logging the hours, but weren’t see the results we should. I could do better.
The Warming Pan
Our previous set up with the Sapling evaporator was the standard set up with the continuous flow pan over the barrel style evaporator. So when it came time to add fresh sap to the pan, it would be stone cold straight from my storage barrel. Sure, I could have some warming on a burner, but that would take away from our space for finishing syrup. As a result, stone cold fresh sap combined with partially boiled down sap would at the very least drastically reduce our boil, if not kill it.
This constant up and down chasing the boil is what made us so highly inefficient last year. It required us to have more boiling days than necessary to produce the same amount of sap. In an effort to improve our process, we added the warming pan to our set up this year. Essentially, it’s an additional pan that sits over the continuous flow pan that can hold 5 gallons of sap. The ambient temperature from the firebox as well as steam from the boiling heats the sap in the warming pan. While it won’t boil it, it will drastically increase the ice cold temperatures from the storage barrel (~35°F) to (~65°F-70°F) in the warming pan. This may not seem like much, but that 30°F+ degree temperature increase makes a considerable difference in the amount of heat energy that doesn’t have to be created in the pan.
In addition to the warming aspect of the pan, it has a sensitive spigot that can be fine tuned to back fill your boil. In order to help push the reducing sap through the baffles of the continuous flow pan, fresh sap needs to be added and finished syrup drawn off simultaneously. Ideally, at the same speed. Unless you have someone boiling with you to simultaneously pour in fresh sap from a bucket at the same pace you’re drawing off, this is an impossible solo dance. Not only does the warming pan allow one person to do this, but the spigot can be adjusted from a drip to a flow, depending on how slowly or quickly you are drawing off.
The Results
So at the end of the day, how big of a difference (if any) did the warming pan make in our process?
HUGE.
We boiled more sap in less time, and did in two days what took us three or more last year. Sugaring season overlapped with our kidding season this year, so we knew we would be cutting our season short. So, we needed to maximize every minute we could at the evaporator. We tapped fewer trees this year, and had less sap to boil. But, when factoring in actual boiling hours and what our syrup production was, we saw a dramatic leap in efficiency.
Not only did we see an increase in efficiency, we saw an increase in the quality of our syrup. We did zero pre-filtering of the sap this year before boiling, but followed the same finish filtering process as last year. Yet, we ended up with clearer syrup with less sediment. I can’t help but think this had something to do with the more efficient constant boil, rather than the yo yo-ing we experienced last season.
All in all, I am extremely happy with how our sugaring season went this year. Even though we drastically cut down on the number of taps and cut our season short, we still ended the season with almost two gallons of syrup. This was made only logging approximately18 hours at the evaporator. Combined with the gallon and a half we have leftover from last year, this is plenty to keep our breakfast sausage, waffles, and chicken drenched in maple syrup this year!
Happy Sugaring,
See my Youtube videos below for a tour of our goat mini barn! The first video was taken in July of 2018 that gives specifics on dimensions, organization, etc. The second video was taken in March of 2020 that shows updates and changes that have been made since the first video.
In these videos I make reference to my goat milk stand and lambing jug blog posts
Most Recent Video - March 2020
First Video - July 2018
This year as we head into our third kidding season, we are also anxiously awaiting our first lambing with our Icelandic ewes. With the addition of these expectant mothers (and their babies) it has come time to knock out a new project: building a lambing jug!
Lambing jugs are simply small enclosures for the ewe to lamb in, and spend the next few days to have a safe space to bond with their babies. This will allow mom and babies to still be seen by and interact with the rest of the herd, but be physically separated. These jugs can certainly be used for kidding, and I was planning on putting one up for our does. But, with the addition of Reykja and Stimpla it went to the top of the to do list.
Building a lambing jug doesn’t have to be a monumental undertaking. You want simple! They typically are intended to be portable and temporary, allowing for easy set up and tear down. They can be put up anywhere, whether it be in the pasture or the barn. It’s 100% dependent on your set up. For ours, I am utilizing the third stall (5′ x 4′) of our mini barn and essentially creating a run off of it. This will give them the use of the stall, and I can shut them in at night for safety. But, they will also have access to under the overhang to stretch their legs, get fresh air, and socialize. Not only will this serve as our kidding and lambing jug, but it will be where we can separate baby goats at night for morning milking.
Construct Your Fencing
These jugs can truly be made out of anything! Use whatever scrap fencing you may have around – it doesn’t need to cost anything to construct. I have random pieces of woven wire netting, cattle panels, etc, leftover from other fencing projects I keep on hand for these exact circumstances. One thing to keep in mind is the size of the babies you will be containing. Larger goats/sheep for instance are just born bigger, and won’t slip through larger holes in fencing as easily. Smaller goats however, such as Nigerian Dwarfs can be teeny tiny when born, so the smallest square possible is extremely important so they can’t slip out. Because we have a range in sizes from Nigerian Dwarf, to Nubian, to Icelandic, I based my fencing off of the smallest animal and used fencing with 2″ x 2″ squares.
Just like for the fencing, use whatever you can for a gate! That is of course if you need one. Because ours will double as a place to separate kids at night, I want there to be access to the jug from the outside as well as inside the barn. We have a random stock pile of panels that I pulled from. I affixed it to the corner beam with carabiner clips to secure it as well as be the “open side” and the other side fastened to a T post with loose zip ties to create a hinge. Low tech, easy peezy.
What's In the Jug
Inside the “jug” you just need to provide the basic necessities. A barn camera for stalking (oh that’s just me? :D) food, water, and if needed, warmth. We have a hay feeder built into the wall of the third stall where we provide free choice hay, and a bucket of water high enough that it’s out of reach of kids/lambs. They don’t need it! Those first few days they are particularly bumbly and fumbly, and accidental drowning is a real possibility. So, play it safe and keep it high enough it’s out of their reach. Fresh water is essential however for mom, and hydration is so important in milk production.
More water = more milk = happy and healthy babies.
Depending on the climate you live in and the conditions, supplemental heat may be necessary. Especially during those first few days, babies need calories and should not be wasting them shivering to keep warm! Due to the constant fear of the danger of heat lamps, last year we made the switch to Premier 1 Prima Heat Lamps due to their safety features for all of our needs.
We are anxiously awaiting for kidding season to start as well as experiencing our first lambing this year. With this lambing jug set up, we will be able to give moms and their babies the best start possible to bond in a safe and undisturbed place, while allowing us to monitor their health and progress as well. Wishing everyone a healthy and successful lambing/kidding season!
**Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. I only link to products I have used, abused, and believe in. While I do not make commissions on these, they do allow my partners to track business I have generated for them. I wholeheartedly appreciate you using my affiliate links for any of the products I recommend you may purchase! It keeps the educational and informative content coming.
Proud Premier 1 Partner
One of the biggest and most long term projects we took on when buying this old house was clearing our land. Back in its hay day, our property was beautiful pasture lined with stone walls. Now, it’s thick overgrown woods, and a tangle of small trees and growth are choking out the beautiful and beneficial sugar maples and oaks.
We came into buying this property knowing that we would have several years of long hard work turning these thick woods into pasture space. But, I think we underestimated how truly difficult it would be. It’s not as simple as cutting own trees, and skidding logs. HA! If only…
We have boulders the size of Texas to contend with, meaning the tractor can’t ever just drive from point A to point B as the crow flies. We are constantly driving around these things, stopping to reset the log we are skidding because it got hung up on a rock. Not to mention the enormous amount of junk and glass we have stumbled across. This is a 220 year old farm after all… you get the picture.
Now you may be thinking well can’t you just dig the rocks out? Unless you’re familiar with the New England landscape, you simply cannot fathom what we are dealing with. I know I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. The glaciers came through dropping ledge and boulders like a bad habit, and what you are seeing above ground is only about 10% of its size. Unless you have a large excavator to dig all of them out they won’t budge. And if you did that, there may not be any dirt left there are so big and plentiful. But, you would still have to cut the trees down and moved out of the way to get an excavator in in the first place. Which brings you back to square one.
"Before" Photos from the road and along the driveway before we started actively clearing
While we have used our pigs to help clear their silvopasture very successfully, we did not use the pigs to prepare the sheep pasture. This has nothing to do with their efficiency at the job, but the fact that it was on the opposite side of our property that we already had their fencing established. We also knew this ~1.5 acre pasture was going to be a constant construction zone as we wanted to get it done quickly for our katahdin sheep, and we didn’t want to have to worry about moving animals around or fencing getting in the way.
The Clearing Process
The process that we followed was pretty systematic. We would essentially work in sections starting at the natural opening to the pasture from the mini barn and work our way towards the stone wall by the road in swaths.
First, we would cut down saplings and add to a brush pile, then cut down all of the trees we weren’t going to keep in the silvopasture. They would be topped, with the small limbs/branches added to the brush pile to be burned, then the log skidded out and lifted onto our log pile to split for firewood. We would then cut the stumps down as close to the ground as possible so that we could drive over them and push through working our way down the pasture repeating the process.
As far as the stumps go, because this pasture will never be able to be hayed or tilled due to its rocky landscape, for now we are leaving them. We cut them down as low as possible, and over the coming decades they will rot and decompose. It in no way is affecting the animals ability to graze, so it’s one of those things that we decided it wasn’t worth the work and cost to rent a stump grinder. Not to say we won’t do it in the future, but for now we are leaving them!
"After" Photos from the road and along the driveway after we cleared 90%. We will have some trees to drop next winter we didn't get to in time.
Prepping Cleared Land for Seeding
So, you have all the trees and saplings cut down that you want removed and the stumps have been cut down as low as possible (or removed)… Now what?
Time to prep that ground to seed! I would love to say it’s as simple at this point as just walking around and throwing down seed. But, alas there are several decades worth of leaf litter, millions of sticks, and of course alllllll the garbage that has been dumped here over the years. This all has to be removed to expose the dirt below to seed. It’s at this point where a landscape rake proves its worth and makes short work of the job.
Connected to our three point hitch, the landscape rake was used to remove everything covering the soil. Nick would drive around dragging the leaf litter, sticks, etc into piles, then scoop it up with the bucket and dump it elsewhere. I worked the ground, following behind him picking up anything that was left behind by the rake, or anything that it exposed when dragging the ground (read whiskey bottles)
Once the entire pasture was raked, it again was used to help grade some low areas where water would pool. Once all of this was done, it was time to seed!
Laying Down your Seed
Choosing a quality seed is just as important as prepping the land properly. Yes it’s expensive, and it is a little painful to fork over the money for. BUT, if you prep your land properly and sow your pasture seed at the appropriate time (spring and fall here when its rainy and warm) it is a one time purchase. Cheaping out on the seed will lead to poor germination rates and growth, and then to subsequent plantings, costing more money and frustration. Quality seed will give you the best pasture growth possible, so why not just do it right the first time?
As mentioned above, late spring and fall are prime grass growing conditions here. This is when the soil is warmed up, the temperatures are warm to encourage germination and growth, and its naturally rainy to keep the seed moist. We have no way of watering this pasture (does anyone really?!) so we have to do it at a time when Mother Nature can provide the needed moisture for us. The sheep pasture mix we used from Natures Seed gave the lb/ace for seeding new pasture, so all I had to do was dial that into my hand held seed spreader. From there it was just a matter of walking up and down in rows, trying to make sure I hit everything and didn’t miss any spots.
True to my luck, about a week after seeding we got a very cold spell which certainly delayed germination and growth. But, the temps warmed back up and everything quickly bounced back and began to take off making up for lost time. We also happened to have an extremely rainy spring/early summer, and while everyone was cursing the weather, I was over here doing my happy dance over the wonderful grass growing conditions!
Despite the initial cold spell we had this spring right after seeding I am thrilled with how well our pasture grew. Just a little over two months after seeding the pasture grass was long thick and strong enough to be grazed by our sheep and goats.
While we didn’t get the entire pasture done in time for spring seeding, we got abut 90% of what we planned on accomplishing this year. This winter when the ground is frozen we will drop the remaining trees we didn’t get to, so that next spring we can rake and seed just like we did this year.
I still catch myself standing in the kitchen or the driveway just staring at our new pasture. Seeing the fog roll in from the wetlands over the gorgeous green healthy pasture is something I have been dreaming about since we bought this place. It almost feels surreal to me that it actually happened, it felt like such a far off in the distant future dream.
Only a year ago it was dense woods and you couldn’t see beyond the wall of trees that came right up to the driveway. It’s hard work, and it’s going to continue to be hard as this is what we have to do with all of our 10.5 acres here. But, we are making huge progress in a short amount of time thanks to our drive and determination to make this place surrounded by lush green pastures once again!
After what felt like an eternity, the sap finally started running! Despite the seemingly slow start to the season, we have had ideal conditions for the past two weeks. The sap has been filling my buckets and the weather isn’t showing any signs of it slowing down. I have been collecting sap daily from my 18 taps (I went a little over what I capped myself at…shocker) and stockpiling it in a food grade 55 gallon drum. Once it’s full, I boil. Tis’ the season indeed.
This is my first year sugaring as I mentioned in my previous blog post, and I honestly don’t know what I would do without my Vermont Evaporator Company Sapling Evaporator. It has been a lifesaver throughout this new venture, and with the volume I’m collecting I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. Without it, I’d be in a stressful “how am I going to get all of this done?!?” situation, and I would not enjoy it. When working full time and running a homestead, time is precious, and the evaporator has allowed me to be efficient as possible while capturing that delicious syrup.
We did a “trial run” with the evaporator when we had about 25 gallons collected to get the unit properly seasoned and get our feet wet. There were some initial hiccups that can be anticipated when learning any new piece of equipment, not to mention the fact that we have never boiled sap before! But, we quickly found our groove and made some minor modifications to the evaporator as well as the process that helped us be more efficient.
Adjusting the Level
The Sapling Evaporator is a continuous flow unit which essentially means that the sap flows through the baffles in the pan as it boils down and becomes closer to a syrup-like consistency. Once it has reached syrup (or close to it) you open the exit valve to draw it out. In order to properly to do this, the unit has to be perfectly level so that it’s the density that determines the flow versus a pitch or tilt in the unit.
In our trial run, we really struggled with getting the evaporator perfectly level. We have a dirt driveway, and using cinder blocks/bricks, etc didn’t work for us. We could never get it quite right, which affected the continuous flow! This is after all one of the key benefits of the Sapling and what makes it so efficient. Then, my husband had the brilliant idea to create adjustable feet in order to quickly and easily adjust the level of the evaporator. Carriage bolts fitted through the predrilled holes, with two washers and two nuts per foot worked like a charm. We were able to quickly and easily adjust and readjust the level no matter where we set it. No bricks or cinder blocks needed, just a turn of the nut! Unless you have a perfectly level area that you can set the evaporator on, I highly recommend going this route. Cheap hardware will save you a lot of time shimming and some headaches.
Finishing the Boil off the Evaporator
Sap officially becomes “syrup” when the water has evaporated and it has reduced to the point that it reaches 66.6% sugar, or 219˚F. During the trial run, I quickly learned what finesse and skill it took to get the sap to finish at the required 219˚ F on the evaporator. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it there. Then finally, after hours and hours of boiling I finally hit it, but ran the sap level so low in the pan that I scorched it and ruined the syrup in the process. Lesson learned.
Now, there are plenty of people out there that have the skill and ability to finish syrup on the evaporator without burning their hours of hard work like I did. I however, do not possess such skill (not yet at least), and if you don’t either there’s no shame in it! It only took the one time for me to learn my lesson, and from that point on I started drawing off the sap that was very close to syrup (~213˚-215˚F) and finishing it on an electric burner outside. This gave me complete control over monitoring and controlling the heat without running the risk of boiling the level too low and scorching my pan, giving me a perfect 219˚F syrup every time! Maybe someday I will get good enough regulating the level of the sap and the temperature and be able to finish the syrup on the evaporator. But honestly, it’s no big deal if I don’t. This way works just as well, and all that matters is that you get the syrup!
My Process
Now that I have a few boils under my belt, I feel like I’ve found my groove and have a process in place that works for me. Every time I get better, and am able to boil more sap in the same amount of time. If you aren’t familiar with the Sapling unit and its operation, reviewing the instructions will help you have a better understanding of my process:
- First things first on boiling day, get the fire going in the evaporator first thing. I will do this before I even get started on the morning chores with the animals just to give it time to get cranking and then by the time I’m done with my morning feedings I’m ready to start boiling sap.
- Once I have a good fire going, I put the evaporator pan on and immediately add my leftover sap from the previous boil to the pan closest to the exit valve, and fresh sap to opposite corner of the evaporator pan.
3. Then I wait, and tend to the fire while keeping as strong and consistent of a boil as possible while maintaining the 2″ depth in the pan. Once the syrup-like sap closest to the exit valve is as hot as I am going to get it in the pan, I draw off anywhere from 6-8 cups and replenish the pan with sap straight from the storage drum.
4. The syrup-like sap that was drawn off goes straight to the electric burner where I can closely monitor it until it reaches 219˚F. Once it hits this temperature, I dump it through a fine mesh filter lined with cheesecloth into a separate pot that will stockpile the day’s syrup.
5. By the time the syrup is finished on the electric burner, the evaporator has boiled down a substantial amount of sap and it’s to the point that I can draw more off and finish it on the burner. From here, it’s rinse and repeat all day long until I have used all of the sap in my storage barrel. It’s an all day event tending to the fire, monitoring temperatures, drawing off sap, and filtering syrup.
6. At the end of the day, all of the syrup is warmed up and poured through a fine final filter to collect the sugar sand and yield a cleaner and clearer syrup before being stored in mason jars.
The Results
I can’t help but laugh to myself that I wasted so many years thinking sugaring was an extremely difficult process. It’s really not! Yes, it is time consuming, and there is absolutely no way around that when you’re boiling off such a substantial amount of water. But, an evaporator such as The Sapling certainly does help speed the process up and make you more efficient, which means that you can boil more in a day! Our boiling days have lasted anywhere from 12-13 hours. So, is it hard? No. But is it time consuming? Yes.
As I have previously mentioned, the industry “standard” is a 40:1 ratio of sap to syrup. This ratio as well as how good the sap runs varies greatly on so many different factors. How mild the winter was, the snow fall, the trees sun exposure (in the woods or in open land), the trees health, and whether there have been drought conditions or not all have an effect.
So far this season I am averaging about 1.25-1.5 gallons of sap per day per tap. Some taps are better producers than others, and in every case the trees that are in the open versus in the woods produce a higher volume. Despite the milder winter and less snowfall, I am hovering right around that 40:1 ratio as well which is always a good thing!
Some Things I Learned
When learning any new skill there is a learning curve of some extent involved. The sugaring season may be a small blip on the year’s radar, but it’s a pretty intense one and you quickly learn on your feet. I have only been boiling for a week, but have already done it three times! I have certainly learned some valuable lessons that I will take with me into next year’s season and beyond:
- Figure out what works best FOR YOU when tapping your trees. You could ask ten different people that have been surgaring for years when and how they determine it’s time to tap their trees and you’ll get varying responses. I know I did. Everyone swears by something different. Some strictly go based on the weather but never before a certain date. Others tap early so they can get an early run while some say absolutely not to tap early because the holes will close up. Everyone swears by something different and it will make your head spin. I have a combination of taps that I put in at the end of January and others only a couple weeks ago before the sap really started running. At first, when the sap started running recently the trees that I had tapped early weren’t producing. I thought that maybe I had screwed up and tapped too soon and the holes had closed up. Well, it took a few ideal days but wouldn’t you know I’m getting buckets full of sap from those trees as well? So what’s the “right” way? Beats me! I don’t think there is necessarily any one best way, you just need to find what works best for you and your operation.
- Make sure you have seasoned sugar wood. Man, I can’t stress this one enough. Of course this is common knowledge and seems like a no brainer, but it’s something we have been struggling with. Going into the season we had pine trees that had been down for a couple years and thought for sure that they would be dry enough to just cut and split to use shortly before the season started. Wrong. The wood was in fact not seasoned enough, meaning we struggled to get a good boil which made us horribly inefficient. So, we have been collecting standing dead pine and any other dry wood we can to limp us through. For next year we will definitely have all of our sugar wood cut, split, and stacked in the summer. Lesson learned.
- Don’t plan on doing much else that day. Like I said before, making maple syrup is not hard but it is time consuming! It truly is an all day event that you can’t get away from for more than fifteen minutes, and it always seems to take me longer than I think it will. I am certainly getting better at it every time, but it is still a full day event and I have never been able to finish under 12 hours. So, on boil day I may have other little projects that I can do around the homestead, but nothing too involved and I make sure I don’t need to leave the house.
- It’s a lot of work but it really IS that delicious. Just like with anything else homegrown or homemade you have a greater appreciation for it and it’s always better than store bought. Homemade maple syrup is no different! Yes, it’s time consuming. But, you only get one shot at it in a short window of opportunity each year and it’s a very fulfilling (and fun) process. Also, not to mention the fact that it is so delicious! Maple syrup in coffee, on pancakes, made into sugar, and used in baking…the possibilities for this natural sweetener are endless.
I certainly have a far greater appreciation for professional sugarers and the price they charge after doing it myself. On our small homestead operation, we average about 1 gallon or so of finished syrup at the end of a boiling day. That’s one gallon of maple syrup after a 12 hour day! Which is exactly why we will be hoarding it all and rationing it throughout the year to get us to next season like I know so many others do…
Making maple syrup at home is a fun, fascinating, and delicious process that I have really enjoyed. Are you a sugarer? If so, I’d love to hear how this season is going for you and what your process is like!
This is our original farrowing house design that has since been upgraded, and then finally expanded upon to our farrowing barn. We did incorporate elements from this initial design that worked well, and upgraded and changed those that didn’t based on using it for a few farrowings
A couple weeks before Big Marie’s highly anticipated litter was due, we scratched our original plans for a hoop house style farrowing house and went back to the drawing board. Big Marie has lived her life here being rotated through our woods while sleeping in a three sided Port-a-Hut. I hope that someday we will be able to have our sows farrow on pasture with little to no interference from us. But, our first farrowing with a first time mom in the dead of winter was not the time to start. So, we decided to design a more secure and protected house for her to have and raise her babies in. Something to protect Big Marie and the piglets from whatever weather we had while allowing us to implement some safety measures for the piglets.
The first three days of a piglets life are its most critical and mortality rate is its highest. Piglets are their most vulnerable and prone to accidental crushing or being stepped on when they aren’t as quick or haven’t learned to get out of mom’s way. There are some design features we built into the farrowing house that would help keep the piglets safe in these critical first few days and beyond to minimize the potential for accidents as much as possible.
The Layout
When building the farrowing house the last thing that we wanted to do was construct a whole new structure just for one purpose. This is only going to be used when she farrows and until the piglets are weaned. Then she will be back in the woods rooting to her heart’s content sleeping in her port-a- hut. So for something that is so temporary, we decided to close off a large portion of our oversized chicken coop and convert it into her farrowing house rather than build new.
We ended up closing off a 6 x 8 foot rectangular portion of chicken coop and giving it to Big Marie. The key with this was walking the fine line between giving her enough space to get up and move around, but not too much space so that she could potentially lay down far from her piglets heated safe zone and they get lost when trying to nurse. When they are only a day or two old, they bumble and stumble around, and if mom is too far away they potentially may not be able to find her. With this set up, whichever direction she decides to lay down she is very close to the babies for nursing.
I would never feel comfortable with such a small enclosure if this was all she had for space. She needs to walk around, go to the bathroom, and get some fresh air! We have a large paddock for her that she can access whenever she wants to stretch her legs, which is is where her food and water are. Putting these things outside encourages her to get up and walk around a bit, which is what she needs post farrowing. Because of the additional ~2,000 square foot outdoor space she has, I feel very comfortable with the smaller size of her enclosure and it has worked well thus far.
The east facing 8 foot long wall has a bumper that sticks out eight inches from the wall and twelve inches off the ground. This gives her something to lay against that isn’t a wall. As she is going down, if a piglet is in the way it can run under the bumper for safety and not get crushed. Behind the bumper on the wall that divides the farrowing house and chicken coop is a man door that gives us a point of access.
On the opposing west wall is the door that gives Big Marie access to her paddock. There is a permanent door that can be shut. But, because she doesn’t particularly like to be shut in, I fitted the door with carpet padding and a rug to help block any drafts. This will allow her to have free access to go in and out as she pleases, but it will cut down on the drafts to preserve heat in her house. On sunny days, I have a hook that I can pull it up with to let in the warmth and fresh air.
To the right of the door is an old 3×4 foot wire dog kennel with the door removed. While most people put in a second bumper for the piglets, our heat mat happened to perfectly fit in a spare dog kennel we had and decided to give it a try. This serves as the piglet’s “safe space” where they can go to stay warm and will help prevent them from getting crushed by mom. The bottom of the kennel has a Stanley heat mat with heat lamps hanging from the wire above. Because they aren’t in a heated and/or insulated barn, being born in the winter months calls for multiple heat sources to keep them warm and a comfortable 80-85 degrees.
Drafts are always a concern so three sides of the kennel are lined with 10″ tall plywood to keep the heat contained, block drafts, and help channel the piglets to the door. About a third of the kennel opening closest to the paddock door is fitted from top to bottom with a piece of plywood, as well as another piece perpendicular to it about halfway up. It serves again as draft control as well as a way to keep Big Marie from sticking her head in the doorway and potentially pulling out the heat lamps and mat. The piglets have enough space to scoot out from underneath the wooden board to go out and nurse, then when they’re done they sneak back under to warm up. This keeps them from cuddling with mom to stay warm, and helps minimize the potential to be rolled on and crushed.
We are four days post farrowing, and while accidents can always happen, I can take a little bit of a breather knowing we are out of the 3 day “danger zone”. So far, the farrowing house set up as a whole and more specifically the dog kennel set up have worked very well for us! The piglets have learned to go into the kennel to warm up on their own, and they are getting bigger and stronger everyday while learning to watch their mom’s footing and get out of her way.
Do you raise pigs for breeding and have a farrowing house or do they do it on pasture? The best way to learn is from others, so let’s hear what everyone does below!